Keyless
by Chronos Mephistopheles
Summary: Yaoi RiSo, Soubi/Ritsuka / Sora and Riku are called away on a mission given by the King! And the world that has to be saved is one where cat ears and magic are normal. Originally titled Keybearer
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Sorry everyone for starting yet ANOTHER yaoi. But I couldn't help it! I thought this was an adorable idea. Gotta love those plot bunnies

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Loveless are owned by their respective creators and I do not own anything but the plot of this story.

Warnings: Yaoi (which means men loving men), cursing, possible lemon/lime in future, and very confuzzled authors.

Pairings: eventual Sora/Riku, Soubi/Ritsuka (yes! It's a Loveless crossover!)

Summary: Begins at end of KH2. Sora and Riku are called away on a mission given by the King! And the world that has to be saved is one where cat ears and magic are normal. Interesting… Is Sora's change in age really necessary? KH/Loveless Xover

Prologue:

Sora took the bottle from Kairi's outstretched hand, quickly pulling open the seal. Faintly, the brunette boy could feel Riku begin to read it over his shoulder. Azure colored eyes darted across the page, drinking up every bit of information he could get. He heard Riku gasp in his ear, and Sora almost frowned; knowing the older boy read faster than him. Not to mention it felt weird to hear his shocked gasps. It was much different from when he was in pain.

Sora felt his eyebrows knit in confusion and began rereading from the beginning, ignoring as the redheaded girl Kairi slowly made her way to look over his shoulder as well. Sora handed the letter over to her, glancing at the boy behind him. Aqua eyes hidden behind silver bangs slightly tinted red by the powerful sunset at their shoulders met his gaze.

Licking his chapped lips, Sora finally spoke, ignoring the small fit Kairi had decided to throw. "Think we can do it Riku?" The aqua-eyed boy shrugged, turning his gaze to the falling orb in the sky. Sora turned completely, grasping Riku's shirt. "The King thinks we can."

Riku turned back to Sora, and the brunette could see the worry in his eyes. "But changing your age?" A small smirk, it looked kind of forced, made its way across Riku's delicate lips. "You just grew up and he wants to make you even younger than before?" Sora pouted faintly, his naturally pink lips pushing out slightly in retort.

Kairi finally decided to speak up. "But the King thinks it is necessary. The world hasn't been locked yet."

Sora peeked over his shoulder at her. "I don't know why you're up for this; you don't get to go Kairi." The girl deflated somewhat, but Sora didn't apologize. What was the point, the King specifically said she couldn't go, that "The Princess of Heart would only get in the way". Harsh, but most likely true. King Mickey knew what he was doing.

"When did he say we were getting picked up?" Riku sighed, his eyes seeming to glow in the slowly coming darkness. Kairi shrugged and Riku began to walk down the wooden bridge. "Might as well pack now. Who knows when he'll show up then?"

Sora scowled, a little miffed having missed the most spectacular sunset since Twilight Town. "You mean _you_ pack… None of my clothes are gonna fit!" Kairi and Sora heard Riku's chuckle. "Riku!" Sora practically whined, running after the older boy. "It's not funny!"

No more comments were made as Riku untied his boat, glancing up at the pouting brunette and the giggling redhead. With a questioning look, the two joined him, the three all barely fitting into a boat made for a fourteen year old. As Sora and Riku rowed back to land, Kairi read over the paper. "What's this about ears?"

"Cat ears," Riku answered, tearing his aqua gaze from the sky back to the duo in front of him. "I heard from DiZ once about some worlds having genetic mutations, and to fit in, one had to replicate those. Sometimes bodies would automatically adapt, other times it has to be scientifically done." Kairi giggled, and Riku continued. "From what I got from the letter, the cat ears are a symbol of childhood, of innocence in that world."

"So…" Sora paused in his rowing; they were maybe a few feet from the dock. "You and I are gonna grow ears?" Riku shrugged and Sora lowered his gaze to the boat. He was amazed at how much Riku learned about different worlds while he was asleep, Namine chaining all his memories back in place. "A symbol of innocence…"

Riku couldn't help but chuckle. "Think of it as a visual way of telling who is a virgin, and who isn't."

Sora flushed the color of a cherry, Kairi right behind him. "Riku!"

"What?" The silver haired boy continued to chuckle, climbing out of the boat to tie it up. "It is true."

Sora practically slumped in the boat. Each world was completely confusing and different. Customs, beliefs, even physical appearances. And Sora even was going to be returned to the age of twelve! Why? Because that world needed him to be twelve. It was necessary. As were the ears… And holy snap! He'd have to begin puberty ALL OVER AGAIN! That was going to be hell, much less the very embarrassing mornings where he'd wake up with a problem (not saying he didn't do that now, but it'd be much more frequent). Sora groaned, ignoring the worried looks Kairi shot at him.

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

Twelve year old Sora, in his thin, petite like form practically glared at seventeen year old Riku. Even though his mindset was still that of a sixteen year old, Sora resisted the urge to cling to Riku. Riku was in charge of protecting him now. Even though Sora remained the Keyblade Master, Riku was going to be what Mickey called the Fighter, whatever that meant.

The Mouse King smiled faintly at the two boys, the ones who had already risked their lives for the worlds twice, and were about to do it again. Sora didn't look too pleased with it, but Mickey knew Sora would eventually be won over. He figured it might be something with the cat ears he was about to receive once stepping foot on the planet. "Now," the King spoke up, catching the chuckling seventeen year old and the pouting twelve year old's attention, "Once you land on that world, you're bound to the rules and restrictions of that world, just like before. Luckily there haven't been any reports of Heartless or Nobodies, so your Keyblades shouldn't be necessary.

"However, they have fighter units. Riku is the Fighter in the duo, and his job is to completely obey Sora." Sora perked up at this, sticking his tongue out at the former. "However, in battle Riku is not the one to receive damage, which would be Sora. Your position is called the Sacrifice. And to deal damage, one uses spells, harmful phrases to trap or cause harm to the opponent's Sacrifice." Sora and Riku nodded, faintly confused why they weren't opposite. Riku's tolerance for pain was greatly higher than Sora's, and the brunette had an easier time following Riku's orders. But the King apparently knew what he was doing.

The King guided them over to the gummy ship's door, opening it with the press of a button. "The one disadvantage is that you will be unable to contact me. However, I do have Merlin watching this world with a close eye, and once the keyhole has been sealed, I will return to this exact place to pick you both up."

Sora nodded, grinning his stupid smile. "Okay, then I guess this is goodbye, Your Majesty?" Mickey nodded. Stepping closer to the opening, Sora bit his lip. This was kind of nerve racking… exploring a world without Donald's magic or Goofy's protection to help him. He felt a much larger, calloused hand take his own, and azure eyes peered up into aqua. Riku gave a small smile, as if asking, 'ready to go?' Sora nodded again, he didn't need Donald or Goofy or the King or Merlin or anyone else. He had Riku with him.

And the two stepped out.

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

Hitting the ground, Riku immediately felt additional appendages on his body. Two cat ears twitched on his head, Riku wincing at how many more sounds he could hear, his silver Persian tail tensing in apprehension. Glancing around, he spotted the petite brunette at his side, calico-like ears (colored his regular brown and bits of Roxas's blonde) twisting which way and that, Sora's matching tail swishing side to side pleased. The now twelve year old practically jumped up and down, "Wow Riku, you have ears!"

Riku glanced away, holding in his chuckle, "You do too, Sora." Sora glanced over his shoulder, trying to see his over active tail. Riku eventually broke out into full laughter as Sora spun around himself, chasing his tail. Arms much stronger than Sora's now reached around the boy, pulling him close into a hug and stopping the chase temporarily. Sora only reached to Riku's stomach, chest if one included his ears and hair, and the silver haired boy felt Sora tilt his head in confusion. Was it another attribute of this world that they would act like cats too? Hesitantly, Sora returned the hug, before giggling.

"Know what Riku?"

"What?" Aqua eyes peered down at the gently spiky brown hair and ears, trying to keep his amusement off his face. Sora was just too cute.

"I think I like it here."

Riku's grin widened. "I think I do too."


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took so long

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and Loveless are owned by their respective creators and I do not own anything but the plot of this story.

**Warnings:** Yaoi (which means men loving men), cursing, possible lemon/lime in future, and very confuzzled authors.

**Pairings:** eventual Riku/Sora, Soubi/Ritsuka

**Summary:** Begins at end of KH2. Sora and Riku are called away on a mission given by the King! And the world that has to be saved is one where cat ears and magic are normal. Interesting… Is Sora's change in age really necessary? KH/Loveless Xover

_**Chapter One:**_

Riku couldn't help but chuckle as Sora pushed his ears down on his head, trying to block out the noises he never would have been heard before. The blue eyed twelve year old whimpered, glancing up at Riku. "It's alright, you'll get used to it pretty quickly."

"How did you so fast?" Sora whined, burying his head and ears in Riku's stomach.

Aqua eyes rolled slightly, pulling away from the clinging boy. "Let's go. The quicker we find the Keyhole, the quicker we can go home." He grabbed Sora's hand and they began to wander the forested area. Sora stumbled along behind, Riku's stride was now at least twice his own.

The two emerged from the underbrush, ears twitching as they surveyed the area. They landed in a park, in the middle of some large city. Nearby was a children's play area, with the plastic tubes and metal ladders and wood chip dirt. Riku continued to move past it, ignoring the little children in swings stopping and watching the older boys walk by.

Riku had led Sora as far as the nearest street, both pairs of ears twitching at all the sounds. Students of all ages wandered the streets, some with ears, and some without. Riku's eyes surveyed the area, ignoring the sounds of giggling school girls, and decided it was probably safer to return to the park. At least there Sora would be able to think.

At Sora's questioning look, Riku gave a small smile and led the boy back toward the park toys. "Sora, can you sense anything?" Once again the Keyblade master cocked his head to the side, a thoughtful expression on his face. Riku and Sora stopped at the edge of the playground, sitting on the old wooden logs lining the beach sand.

Blue eyes stared at the sand a moment in concentration. "I can't feel a thing. It's almost like there isn't any darkness here at all." Sora's eyes met Riku's; a frown upon the younger's face. "Something isn't right."

"Let's walk around for a little bit, see if anything catches our attention." Riku's ears turned toward the west, Sora's following. There was this insistent ringing noise. Nobody else seemed to hear it. The noise was loud, it was echoing. It hurt. Riku jumped to his feet, pulling Sora onto his. Making sure Sora's hand was clasped tightly in his own, Riku took off running in that direction.

"Riku!"Sora gasped, "Slow down. You're running too fast!" The silver haired boy glanced back, seeing Sora stumble over his own feet. That's right, Sora's twelve. He can't keep up with Riku on his own. Riku paused in his running before picking Sora up. "Hey! I can run just fine!" Sora was like a doll, really light and adorable. It was too easy for Riku to hold him up, took barely any effort. The seventeen year old didn't remember Sora being so thin.

"You can't keep up."

Sora slipped into a pout. "That is beside the point." He glanced in the direction of the ringing. "Plus I really don't want to go over there. It's too loud."

Riku sighed, flipping Sora in his arms to carry him bridal style. "I don't care. It could be a heartless. It's your job to defeat them." As Sora squirmed in his arms, Riku began heading in the general direction once more. It was like trying to hold onto a fish in the water; Sora was just way too flexible.

Stepping over a shrubbery (1) Riku came across another area of the park, where park benches and tables were littered around, surrounded by nature. Part of Riku and Sora relaxed, the place reminded them of their Island. It was so peaceful. But that horrible ringing…

There was a faint sound, like someone whispering. Riku turned his head in that direction. There, beyond the next pathway was another group of people. The ringing had to be coming from there. Riku placed Sora gingerly on the ground, creeping that way slowly. It was kind of fun, the adrenaline pumping through him as he moved to spy. He felt a small smirk begin climbing on his face when he heard a giggle. Sora's giggle. Green eyes met blue when he glanced over his shoulder. Sora was still giggling, a cute blush across his face. "Your tail was wagging around. It's funny."

Riku rolled his eyes amused. The appendages were easy to adapt to; unfortunately for him Riku would have a harder time hiding his emotions. He narrowed his eyes slightly, he'd have to adapt then. Over the foliage, the group was still sitting there, and Riku got a good look at them all.

There was a girl, with light blond hair pulled into pigtails. She was busty, but couldn't have been older than thirteen. Next to her sat a boy with long black hair and eyeglasses. They were discussing something that caused the girl to go thoughtful and the other boy to whine. That sound was almost as annoying as the ringing. Across the way sat another boy, maybe twelve, with black hair and bright violet eyes. His tail was swinging back and forth in agitation, eyes narrowed watching the others. Nope, none of them were emitting that noise. Where was it coming from?

Sora settled in next to Riku, the pair of eyes glancing over the group. They had to be classmates, probably still in elementary school. None of them had lost their ears yet. Then there was movement, Sora and Riku's eyes darting to the last figure that completely missed. He was an adult; had to be. He was twice the other kids' size in height and stature; plus he didn't have any cat ears. His hair was a really pale blonde, almost white, and had icy blue eyes behind circular bifocals. A bandage was wrapped around his neck, butterfly clips holding it in place.

And he was looking at them! Sora jumped slightly, clinging to Riku's arm. It was him. He was the one giving off that noise. Riku refused to let Sora dart off in fear. Where was his courage? The strength that made him the Keyblade master? Did that disappear when he was reverted back in age?

Riku and Sora continued to watch as the group continued to joke around until sunset, when the busty girl and whiny boy had to leave. The other two stuck around for a little bit, completely silent in contrast to before. As the park began to empty, the adult's voice made its way over.

"You can come out of the bushes. We know you're there." With a frown, Riku stepped out of the foliage. He stood before the twelve year old boy and adult, his aqua eyes surveying their forms. And nice, the ringing stopped. That was a good thing.

Sora moved to stand beside Riku as the others got up and dusted themselves off. How similar a picture they made, it was almost like looking in a mirror: Riku with his long, messy silver hair and bright aqua eyes; the adult with his long blonde hair and ice blue eyes; Sora and the boy both barely reached to their partner's chest and messy hair.

The adult spoke again. "What is it that you want?"

Riku remained silent, watching him. He was the threat in this situation. He had the power. The silver haired boy wasn't quite sure how he knew, but this man wasn't safe. However Sora didn't share the same sentiments. "We were wandering, because we've never been here before." Riku shot Sora a look, but the boy ignored it. "And we heard this ringing noise and followed it here. Were you making it?"

The boy looked up at the adult. "I didn't hear any ringing…" His purple eyes met Sora's and the two of them seemed to get into a staring contest.

"Doesn't mean you weren't making it." Riku snapped, tugging on Sora's hand to stop the childish game. A scowl was plastered over Riku's face, Sora watching it with confused eyes.

"Riku, they haven't done anything wrong."

"Sora, something doesn't feel right." Aqua eyes glanced back up at the adult. "Who are you?"

The blond man turned to the boy, as if waiting for his permission. Sora's head cocked to the side. Was he a servant or something? When the boy rolled his eyes and nodded, the adult spoke once again. "I am Agatsuma Soubi. And this is Aoyagi Ritsuka. He is my master."

Ritsuka, as the boy was now named, flinched with wide eyes. "Don't call me that! I am not your master." Ritsuka returned his gaze to Sora. "And you are?"

Sora's classic grin spread across his face, and Riku held back the urge to "awww". It was just plain… cute. "I'm Sora, and this is Riku." Sora clasped his hand with Riku's, the grin remaining on his face. "Are you two a… a…"

Riku sighed; this was probably why the King sent Riku with Sora. Sora tended to get sidetracked. "A fighter unit?"

"Yeah! That thing." Riku smirked, squeezing Sora's hand slightly. "So are you?" Soubi nodded, and Sora jumped in happiness. Oh god, he was reverting back to the stuff he used to do, before he tried to be just like Riku. Oh, he was going to be a handful. "Great! Then maybe you could explain it to us. We're new to this whole thing."

Ritsuka nodded. "Me too. All I know is what Soubi has told me." He gave Soubi a small glare. Sora and Riku could have sworn they heard him hiss. "Which isn't very much."

Soubi continued to watch the pair with wary eyes. "Are you here to fight?"

"No!" Sora cried, blue eyes wide. "Not if we don't have to!"

-.-.-

(1) I COULDN'T HELP IT! If you read this and your brain immediately went to Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "We want…a SHRUBBERY!" – Knights who Formerly Said 'Ni' Then I flipping love you! You deserve a hug and a cookie. Dead serious.

Now I want to watch that movie… dammit!

Sorry everyone that this took so damn long to post. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here, but with school and stuff it's difficult. If you want another chapter sooner, reviews tend to get me inspired! (hint hint) Hugs and love!


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and Loveless are owned by their respective creators and I do not own anything but the plot of this story.

**Warnings:** Yaoi (which means men loving men), cursing, possible citrus in future, and a very confused author (very very confused).

**Pairings:** eventual Riku/Sora, Soubi/Ritsuka

**Summary:** KH/Loveless Xover || Begins at end of KH2. Sora and Riku are called away on a mission given by the King! And the world that has to be saved is one where cat ears and magic are normal. Interesting… Is Sora's change in age really necessary?

**Author's Note:** So apparently I need to watch the Loveless anime, maybe then I would get the character's hair color correct. –Nervous laugh- I'm thinking about following the manga, but I'm afraid of screwing something up in the future. I own volumes 1-8 but I don't know how long the manga series is. Feel free to let me know if I do end up screwing anything up.

OH! And thank you all so much for the 31 reviews! That's the most I've gotten for such a meager amount of chapters. I really appreciate it. And the 25 favs? -dance- and the 53 alerts! I'm in shock that's so awesome and badass (forgive my French)!!!!

_**Previous Chapter:**__ Soubi continued to watch the pair with wary eyes. "Are you here to fight?"_

"_No!" Sora cried, blue eyes wide. "Not if we don't have to!"_

_**Chapter Two:**_

Riku dropped into a fighting stance, Soubi's question setting off his senses. If he wanted to fight, Riku was all for it. He wasn't quite sure yet how this Fighter/Sacrifice thing worked, but he'd figure it out. Sora's impossibly bright blue eyes widened, grabbing one of Riku's arms and tugging. He was nowhere near as strong as Riku was used to him being, but he managed to get his attention. "What?"

"Come on Riku, I don't think he wants to fight us." Sora's eyes were filled with worry, watching Ritsuka. What was so special about the boy that made Sora stare? "We really shouldn't be making enemies right now! We just got here."

Ritsuka's ears twitched. "You just arrived?" Riku could easily hear the confusion in his voice. "The airport is on the other side of town. And there isn't a port anywhere nearby."

"Not even an hour ago," Riku pried Sora's hands off his arm, ignoring the way Sora pouted. Was Sora always that clingy? The keyblade master glowered at Riku, the expression more adorable than threatening, and moved to stand before Ritsuka. The two twelve year olds surveyed each other expectantly.

"That doesn't make sense."

Sora floundered about, thinking of an explanation on the fly. "Well, you see… we're um…" He held on to Riku tighter, an unexpected wave of anxiousness rising. "We're travelling around and there are times where we… we…" There was another ringing sound, and it was distracting. So very distracting. Sora whipped around, letting go of Riku. Ears at alert, the keyblade master searched for the source.

"It's fading. They're getting farther away." Riku tugged Sora back into the group, leaving an arm wrapped around him. Only to prevent Sora from taking off running of course. Riku straightened, giving a small, half-hearted smile. "We'll leave you two then. I doubt you can help us."

"How are we supposed to help if you don't even tell us you need it?" Soubi murmured.

Riku turned, walking away from the other fighter unit, dragging Sora along. "You can figure that one out on your own."

Sora began squirming once more, almost making grabby fingers at Ritsuka. "I want to talk to Ritsuka some more. Do we have to leave now?" With a sigh, the fighter flung his sacrifice over his shoulder, walking without any problems. With a pout, Sora gave a wave. "See you later Ritsuka!" Before the two keyblade wielders disappeared in the foliage, Sora swore he saw Ritsuka give a small wave back.

"So what are we going to do now, oh great fighter of mine?" Sora eeped as a swap landed on his behind. "What the hell, Riku?!"

Riku gave a chuckle, setting Sora on the grass. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Sora retaliated with sticking his tongue out. "We need to discuss what we've found out."

"We haven't found out anything!" Sora huffed and stuck his nose in the air. "I think if I had more time with Ritsuka I would have gotten some kind of information."

Riku placed himself in front of Sora, focusing on the boy before him. "You were staring at Ritsuka. Why?"

"Just something about him." Sora shrugged. "It almost reminds me of the princesses, but not quite there." He began toying with the hem of his shirt. "I like being near Ritsuka."

Riku's eyes narrowed, a frown marring his face. "Oh. That all?" Sora's eyebrows knit together, and a finger was pressed against his lips in thought. The fighter sighed, "While you think about that, I'm gonna run a few things by you. Soubi is extremely strong. His aura or however you want to refer to it was extremely large and overwhelming. He has to know tons of information."

"Has to?"

"Something inside says Soubi is hiding something and I think it is crucial to closing the keyhole."

Sora stretched his arms high, his back arching and tail curling like a cat. "We should wander around, try and figure this world out so we have an idea of what people are referring to." The silver haired boy cut a small symbol into a tree nearby, giving Sora a smile.

"We'll use this as our base for now."

"Not a very safe base."

"It'll have to do."

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The two wandered the city until late at night, when Riku watched Sora yawn seven times in a row. They turned down a street they walked down earlier, pausing at the light spilling across the street. Riku motioned to the house with a balcony. There was someone standing on the balcony, hand in his pocket. Riku tugged Sora over to hide in the shadows nearby.

"That's Soubi," he whispered. "But I don't hear the ringing anymore."

"Maybe you can turn it off?"

Riku and Sora watched as Soubi jumped off the balcony, landing nearby. Ritsuka flung himself toward the ledge, looking for his fighter. After five minutes of searching, Ritsuka returned to his room, closing the curtains and blocking off the light to the street.

Soubi's ice cold gaze rested on the fighter unit. "Any reason you're here?"

"Would you believe pure happenstance?" Riku replied amused, Sora couldn't see why. One minute Riku's going off about how they need to be careful around the man and now he's joking around with him? Maybe being in Kingdom Hearts really did affect his brain.

"No."

"I don't have an answer for you." Riku crossed his arms smugly, tail swinging behind him lazily. He was definitely feeling smug. "Did you injure yourself, Soubi? Why are you favoring your hand?"

Sora rushed forward, taking a hold of the horribly wrapped hand. Soubi probably wrapped it himself. Without glancing upward, Sora hoped the magic he learned in his travels worked in this world too. "Heal." His signature smile spread when the faint glow and green light surrounded Soubi's hand before disappearing. "There! Good as new!" His joy was short-lived when Riku tugged the boy back to his side.

"What are you doing?"

"What are you?" Soubi's voice disturbed the two keybearers. "What is your fighter name?" He was met by equally confused pairs of eyes. He rubbed a temple exasperated. "You probably don't even have anywhere to stay do you? Come with me. You answer my questions and I'll answer some of yours."

The blonde man began walking toward his house, the two foreigners slowly following behind him. "Can we trust him?"

Riku picked Sora up, giving the still-sleepy twelve-year old savior of worlds a 'piggy-back' ride. "I think we really don't have a choice here."

-|-|-

Yes, so so so so so sorry for how long this fic is taking. I really should learn that when I come up with an idea for a fic to make an outline and follow it. –sigh- So hopefully you won't have to wait as long as before, but I can't make any promises. I'm in university and my school schedule seems pretty light, but all the out-of-class work is insane. So yes, very sorry.

Reviews make me brainstorm!


	4. IMPORTANT NOTICE

Hello everyone, I am so sorry I haven't updated. I was planning on doing so soon, and then a bunch of the authors I read on ffnet have posted the following message. Because of it, I'm following in their lead. Eventually I am going to take down all my stories here. When I do, you can find everything and all future posts of the fics on my wordpress ( cloudsgrl . wordpress . com :: just remove the spaces) I will keep my page up on ffnet, if only so I can get updates on my favorite fics and read those that are complete (assuming none of them are deleted by redbotton). If you want to message me, please do so at my email, my deviantart, or my new wordpress. I will miss you all.

**Another author has posted this as well, we need as many people as possible to spread this around to hopefully do something about this. This redbootton program is in direct violation of the TOS for this site!**

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Info

Due to the fact that this blog was just spammed , with a few of the posts involving links to porn sites (LU little shits) This blog will have all comments moderated for the time being.

Posted by Civil initiative at 3:48 PM 9 comments

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Friday, August 27, 2010

The RedBotton Issue and what it means for FFNet

As some may have noticed there has recently been a mass reporting of stories on FFNet that are being made by a person known as RedBootton. The administration of the site have been made aware of a disturbing revelation about this account.

RedBootton is actually a program that was designed by Lord Kelvin and is used by various members of Literate Union. Redbootton appears to be capable of accessing Ffnet and searching stories or summaries for either key words or patterns of grammar and then creating a list of the stories that are "in violation of ToS" it then mass reports these stories until the stories are either removed by the author or mods. The members of LU don't even scan over the list before executing the report portion of the program.

The list itself is generated in a matter of minutes.

The idea is to go through each fandom systematically and clean house until Lord Kelvin can finish the touches on the site wide program. After each fandom is cleaned it will then be used to scan all new stories being posted.

This is a serious violation of the ToS on FFNet 4. General Use of the Website hereby grants you permission to access and use the Website as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:  
A. You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Website, including but not limited to User Submissions (defined below), without 's prior written authorization.  
B. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Website.  
C. You agree not to access User Submissions (defined below) or Content through any technology or means other than the Website itself.  
E. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, "robots," "spiders," or "offline readers," that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser. Notwithstanding the foregoing, grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases. You agree not to collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Website, nor to use the communication systems provided by the Website (e.g. comments, email) for any commercial solicitation purposes. You agree not to solicit, for commercial purposes, any users of the Website with respect to their User Submissions.

What is disturbing about this issue is that many false positives are given, and stories that are not in violation are being reported. The administration of FFNET have been made aware of this issue, but even after repeated e-mails they seem to be either indifferent or actually support the use of this program by Literate Union.

What follows is what is known about RedBootton and how this one simple program could easily impact the site and why every one should be angry that the administration as remained silent about this issue.

(RB) is a program that accesses and systematically searches for and reports stories that it flags as in violation of ToS.  
program is not perfect and has had false hits, resulting in stories with the inclusion of a header formatted in the following manner as being reported for script format even when the rest of the story is in actual story paragraph form.  
Rating:  
Pairing:  
Summery:  
Authors Note:  
no long reads or even checks over the stories that are flagged by RB before hitting the report function.  
advanced form of the program that is available to trusted members that includes a search function for typo's and grammar. This could result in a 10,000+ word stories that may have a few typo's or stories that have characters that may have dialog that is grammatically incorrect as being reported.  
is a beta version that will have the ability to search for MA stories. This search function is based upon the flagging of certain words within the text. A story that may have a rooster referred to as a cock or a cat being called a pussy could easily be flagged and reported as MA.  
6.A Beta version of the advanced program will have the capability to "clean house" site wide, including scanning any stories as they are being posted.

For those who think that is fiction I give you links to the Literate Union Forum.

.net/topic/61196/30589812/1/

In this thread is where Lord Kelvin talks about and includes links to where this program can be downloaded for general use. At one point LK even states "Specific words/phrases are rated MA automatically because they are only present in stories with paraphilia."

.net/topic/61196/30532995/38/#30685587

In this thread there is more talk about both RB and how to use it.

Over the past week multiple emails were sent to the admin and mods of FFNet with no answer. Although it is possible that with a site as large as FFNet that they have yet to find time to address this issue, I find myself leaning more to the belief that they just don't care. Since the site seems unwilling or unable to handle this issue there is only one solution.

That is to leave FFNet. Writers should remove their stories and find alternative sites for posting them. Readers to stop visiting. Perhaps then and only then will this issue be seen as important by the owner.


End file.
